Thousands of tonnes of rubbish from Great Heck tip up at Welbeck

Graham Brocklesby, the 53 year old managing director of BBPL, surveys the ten thousand ton pile of rubbish on his property in Great Heck, Yorkshire.

Published:20:30Saturday 30 January 2016

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Thousands of tonnes of waste from a tip where nearby householders reported foul smells and health problems has been dumped near Normanton.

The rubbish dumped at Welbeck landfill site was brought from Great Heck near Selby, where people endured months of living near a smouldering pile of waste.

Campaigner Paul Dainton.

Great Heck villagers launched a campaign to get the smelly mountain of rubbish removed after a tip firm there went bust.

Now 4,500 tonnes of the material has been dumped at Welbeck as part of a clean-up of the North Yorkshire site.

People at Great Heck claimed the rotting waste pile was making them ill, and an investigation by the BBC found traces of contaminants including arsenic in water at the site.

The Environment Agency, which supervised the Great Heck clean-up, has insisted the waste brought to Welbeck has been tested and is not hazardous.

But Paul Dainton, president of environmental action group Residents Against Toxic Scheme, said: “If they found those chemicals in the samples they took then some of it must have been transferred here.”

Mr Dainton was also worried that particles could be spread by the wind because waste was buried in a mound 78 metres high at parts of Welbeck.

He added: “I am more than concerned about what’s in there.”

Tests were carried out at Great Heck for the BBC’s One Show. Arsenic, chloride and sulphate was reportedly found in the samples.

A scientist told the programme: “If I was a resident of Great Heck I’d like to know a lot more about what was getting into the groundwater systems. I’d also like to know a lot more about what was in the waste.”

The Environment Agency said more than 6,000 tonnes of waste was removed from Great Heck before Christmas.

The environmental regulator said in a statement: “Around 4,500 tonnes of this went to Welbeck landfill site.

“This was fire damaged recyclable waste and was not hazardous. It was analysed before being disposed of and only waste that Welbeck landfill site are permitted to accept was sent for disposal there.”

FCC Environment, which owns Welbeck, confirmed that quantity of non-hazardous waste from Great Heck had been deposited there.